/$  (3 


PAM. 

MISC. 


Cf )t 


J^tnctecntl)  Centura 


to  tije 

Clncnttctl) 


%\ )t  Jltneteenti)  Centura 
to  tije  Ctoenttetf). 


A  Paper  prepared  for  the  Ecumenical 
Conference  on  Foreign  Missions  held 
in  New  York*  April  21— May  1,  1900* 


BY  EDWARD  W.  GILMAN,  D.D., 

one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  American  Bible 

Society. 


THE  Nineteenth  Century  pre¬ 
sents  to  the  Twentieth  printed 
copies  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
in  about  four  hundred  languages 
as  a  part  of  the  equipment  with 
which  the  work  of  evangelization 
is  to  be  carried  on  in  the  years  to 
come.  Of  these  volumes  111  con¬ 
tain  the  Old  and  New  Testaments 
entire  ;  91  are  New  Testaments,  and 
the  remainder,  less  comprehensive  as 
yet,  indicate  both  a  beginning  and 
progress  on  more  extensive  lines.* 
It  is  estimated  that  about  one-tenth 
of  these  had  been  printed  before 

*  J.  Gordon  Watt’s  “  Four  Hundred  Tongues,” 
dated  Easter,  1899,  enumerates  four  hundred  and  six 
languages  and  dialects  in  which  versions  of  the  Scrip¬ 
tures  have  been  published  by  nil  the  societies  and 
agencies  at  work. 


2 


1800  ;  the  remainder  may  be  taken 
as  the  product  of  Christian  study 
and  labor  in  the  present  century. 
As  this  enumeration  refers  only  to 
distinct  languages  and  dialects  in 
which  some  part  of  the  Bible  has 
been  published,  it  is  important  to 
add  that  in  many  of  these  languages 
there  are  two  or  more  versions  of  the 
same  book,  or  elaborate  revisions 
embodying  results  of  modern  re¬ 
search  and  scholarship  and  forming 
an  important  part  of  the  contribu¬ 
tion  of  the  present  age  to  its 
successor.  The  greatness  of  this 
achievement  becomes  more  evident 
if  we  note  that  a  large  number  of 
these  languages  have  no  recorded 
history  or  literature,  being  princi¬ 
pally  rude  and  unwritten,  and  only 
in  these  later  years  and  by  slow  de¬ 
grees  reduced  to  writing  and  made 
available  for  the  expression  of  Chris¬ 
tian  truth.  In  the  year  1468  Bert- 
hold,  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  issued 
a  decree  prohibiting  the  dissemina¬ 
tion  among  the  people  of  religious 
works  in  the  vernacular,  on  the 
ground  that  “  the  German  language 
was  incapable  of  expressing  the  deep 
truths  of  religion.”*  What  would 
he  have  thought  of  any  attempt  to 
spiritualize  the  speech  of  the  Zulu  or 


*  Herzog,  Theol.  Ency.,  Vol.  I.  398. 


3 


the  Waganda?  It  was,  says  Dean 
Trench,*  a  new  discovery  of  the  six¬ 
teenth  century  that  “  not  the  Latin 
only,  but  also  the  newly  formed 
languages  of  Europe  were  vessels 
capable  of  containing  the  precious 
wine  of  G-od’s  truth  and  all  other 
thoughts  which  were  worth  the 
thinking  and  preserving.” 

In  preceding  centuries  slow  prog¬ 
ress  had  been  made  in  popularizing 
and  circulating  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
A  theory  that  the  Bible  is  a  book  for 
the  clergy  alone  blocks  every  scheme 
for  translating  it  into  the  tongue  of 
the  unlearned,  and  hides  it  from 
their  sight  if  translated  and  printed. 
A  theory  that  Christian  people  alone 
have  any  interest  in  the  Scriptures 
and  any  right  to  own  and  read  them, 
gives  no  stimulus  to  the  effort  to 
reproduce  them  in  modern  vernacu¬ 
lars.  Not  until  the  Bible  is  recog¬ 
nized  as  a  book  for  all  mankind, 
radiant  with  truth  and  power,  and 
adapted  to  the  ignorant  and  sinful 
of  every  land,  do  men  ask  how  its 
message  of  peace  and  good-will  can 
be  reproduced  in  such  a  way  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  shall  speak  as  effectively 
in  modern  lands  as  he  did  of  old  in 
Palestine  and  Egypt. 

The  multiplication  of  Bible  versions 


*  Mediaeval  Church  History,  page  279. 


4 


in  the  Nineteenth  Century  is  due  to 
the  deep  and  widespread  conviction 
that  “  the  Scriptures  principally 
teach  what  man  is  to  believe  con¬ 
cerning  God,  and  what  duty  God 
requires  of  man,”  and' that  we  can 
find  no  better  text-book  for  the  race 
than  that  which  God  himself  has 
given  us  in  the  Bible  as  it  has  come 
down  to  us  from  the  earliest  centu¬ 
ries  of  the  Christian  era. 

The  invention  of  printing  from 
movable  type  ushered  in  a  new  era  in 
Europe,  and  its  first  costly  product, 
the  Mazarin  Bible,  appeared  about 
1450.  German  Bibles  followed  in 
1466,  and  then  Italian,  Flemish, 
French,  Dutch,  Bohemian,  and  He¬ 
brew,  but  seventy-five  years  elapsed 
after  the  first  Latin  Bible  before  the 
English  had  even  a  printed  New 
Testament  in  their  own  language, 
and  that  was  imported  from  the  con¬ 
tinent.  In  1536  the  English  clergy 
were  ordered  to  put  an  English 
Bible  and  a  Latin  Bible  in  the  choir 
of  every  parish  church,  that  every 
man  who  chose  might  read  therein  ; 
but  not  until  some  years  later  did 
any  Englishman  or  Scotchman  hear 
the  Bible  read  in  his  own  tongue  as 
part  of  the  public  service  of  parish 
church  or  cathedral. 

The  reproduction  of  books  by  the 


5 


printing-press  did  not  secure  the 
immediate  distribution  of  the  Bible 
among  the  nations.  Luther’s  trans¬ 
lation  in  German  appeared  in  1522, 
but  it  was  two  hundred  years  after 
that  before  any  version  of  the  Bible 
was  ready  for  the  millions  dwelling 
in  the  valleys  of  the  Indus  and  the 
Ganges,  and  still  another  hundred 
years  before  any  similar  work  was 
accomplished  for  the  hundreds  of 
millions  which  swarmed  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Hoang-Ho  and  the 
Yang-tse  Kiang.  It  is  some  mark 
of  progress  then  to  say  that  the 
closing  century  passes  on  to  its 
successor  the  Bible  complete  in 
one  hundred  and  eleven  different 
tongues,  and  announces  that  pre¬ 
liminary  steps  have  been  taken  to 
supply  the  Scriptures  in  three  hun¬ 
dred  more  of  the  living  languages  of 
to-day.  It  is  not  claimed  that  these 
are  all  of  equal  value  as  a  means  of 
evangelization ;  some  are  of  little 
worth,  and  their  publication  was  of 
doubtful  expediency  ;  some  are  pos¬ 
sibly  more  interesting  to  the  philolo¬ 
gist  than  the  missionary ;  many  of 
them  are  tentative  and  not  final ; 
but  as  a  whole  they  represent  the 
best  attainable  effort  to  bring  the 
gospel  of  our  salvation  into  direct 
relations  with  the  hearts  and  lives  of 


0 


men  who  otherwise  had  no  knowl¬ 
edge  of  eternal  life. 

II.  The  Nineteenth  Century  pre¬ 
sents  to  the  Twentieth  a  large 
accumulation  of  historical  material 
relating  to  the  history  of  modern 
versions,  and  to  the  vast  work  yet 
to  be  accomplished  in  giving  the 
Holy  Scriptures  to  all  tribes  and 
people  and  tongues.  The  biogra¬ 
phies  of  translators,  the  journals  of 
missionary  boards,  the  annual  re¬ 
ports  of  Bible  societies,  the  archives 
of  correspondence  extending  over  a 
century,  supply  an  enormous  amount 
of  literature  which  ought  to  be  util¬ 
ized  at  an  early  day  in  the  interests 
of  wise  economy  of  labor  and  money, 
and  the  avoidance  at  the  outset  of 
mistakes  due  to  ignorance  and  inex¬ 
perience.  The  initial  cost  of  making 
a  version  is  too  great  to  be  over¬ 
looked  by  those  who  are  called  on  to 
inaugurate  and  superintend  it.  Not 
every  missionary  has  gifts  which 
qualify  him  to  undertake  it  or  par¬ 
ticipate  in  it.  Not  every  spoken 
dialect  is  worthy  of  being  perpetu¬ 
ated  by  such  a  book  as  the  Bible. 
The  confusion  of  tongues  is  a  curse 
and  a  barrier,  and  not  a  few  of  the 
existing  forms  of  speech  are  destined 
to  become  extinct.  Something  has 
been  done,  and  well  done,  for  the 


aborigines  of  the  United  States,  but 
only  for  the  Sioux  Indians  has  the 
entire  Bible  been  translated  and 
printed,  and  all  of  the  Indian 
tongues  are  moribund.  It  is  right 
to  give  bread  to  the  perishing,  but 
is  it  desirable  for  a  population  not 
exceeding  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  souls,  to  perpetuate  seven 
different  versions  of  the  Scriptures, 
with  a  total  circulation  of  three  or 
four  hundred  volumes  a  year  ?  And 
is  it  to  be  assumed  or  desired  that 
these  forms  of  speech  should  survive 
while  modern  civilization  is  crowd¬ 
ing  in  on  every  side,  with  English  as 
the  language  of  daily  life,  of  news¬ 
papers  and  magazines  and  litera¬ 
ture  ? 

There  are  many  Indian  dialects  in 
Mexico,  still  spoken  in  homes  and 
villages,  some  of  which  were  printed 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  but 
the  Spanish  is  the  dominant  lan¬ 
guage  of  the  Republic,  and  all  mis¬ 
sionary  instruction  and  preaching  is 
practically  limited  to  that.  The  ad¬ 
vance  of  empire  in  uncivilized  lands 
leads  now  and  then  to  compulsory 
restrictions  looking  to  the  enforced 
use  of  French  or  German,  as  in  cer¬ 
tain  parts  of  Western  Africa,  not 
perhaps  interfering  with  the  circula¬ 
tion  of  books  in  Benga  or  Mpongwe, 


8 


but  aiming  at  the  ultimate  extinction 
of  the  native  forms  of  speech  and 
the  substitution  of  the  European. 
Cases  have  occurred  where  the  trans¬ 
lator  has  selected  a  dialect  of  a  lim¬ 
ited  range,  and  eventually  other 
tribes  of  similar  origin  demand  that 
changes,  radical  or  slight,  may  be 
made  to  adapt  the  version  to  their 
use.  It  is  a  very  interesting  mark 
of  progress  to  register  the  acces¬ 
sion  of  a  new  version,  or  some 
new  language,  to  the  list  of  Bible 
translations,  but  it  is  a  serious  ques¬ 
tion  whether  such  a  production  is 
not  likely  to  be  still-born  unless 
some  missionary  is  at  hand  to  use 
the  printed  text-book  as  a  manual 
from  which  to  preach  and  expound 
the  gospel  of  Christ.  At  the  Mis¬ 
sionary  Conference  of  1888,  one  well 
qualified  to  speak  laid  it  down  as 
a  fundamental  principle  that  “no 
Bible  can  be  permanent  that  does 
not  spring  out  of  the  actual  necessi¬ 
ties  of  a  living  church.”*  There  is 
something  pathetic  in  Pilkington’s 
appeal  for  the  assignment  of  compe¬ 
tent  men  to  the  work  of  translation, 
and  for  their  education  at  home  with 
special  reference  to  such  service  as 
their  life  work.  The  translation  of 


*  Prebendary  Edmonds,  Report  of  the  Missionary 
Conference,  Vol.  II.  295. 


9 


the  entire  Bible  from  the  Hebrew 
and  Greek  into  a  barbarous  tongue 
is  the  work  of  a  life-time,  and  few 
individuals  have  been  able  to  accom¬ 
plish  it,  and  so  it  becomes  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  great  practical  importance 
whether  to  entrust  such  work  to 
one  or  two,  or  to  rely  upon  the  joint 
labors  of  a  committee  to  no  one  of 
whom  the  language  is  vernacular. 
It  may  indeed  be  assumed  that  all 
work  at  the  outset  is  tentative  and 
open  to  the  revision  of  native  schol¬ 
ars  when  such  shall  have  been 
trained  up  for  the  service,  but  mean¬ 
time  the  usage  of  the  first  version 
has  come  to  have  its  firm  hold  on 
Christian  thought,  and  even  its 
errors  may  be  almost  ineradicable. 
The  poverty  of  many  a  barbarian 
speech  is  appalling  when  one  at¬ 
tempts  to  translate  the  Bible,  word 
for  word,  with  perhaps  no  lexicon 
or  grammar  besides  those  which  he 
has  himself  compiled.  How  shall 
one  fitly  present  the  Bible  idea  of 
love ,  when  the  mental  conception 
of  the  savage  has  never  called  for 
such  a  term  ?  or  of  sin,  when  a  thou¬ 
sand  sins  may  have  separate  names 
without  any  one  term  to  represent 
the  abstract  idea  ?  Or  in  material 
things,  how  shall  one  convey  the 
idea  of  a  mountain  to  the  inhabitant 

Nineteenth,  &c. 


10 


of  a  low  coral  island  ;  or  of  a  flock 
of  sheep  to  one  who  has  never  seen 
a  four-footed  creature  ?  What  terms 
shall  one  invent  for  the  musical  in¬ 
struments  whose  names  roll  so  trip¬ 
pingly  from  our  tongues  when  we 
read  in  Daniel  of  “  cornet,  flute, 
harp,  sackbut,  psaltery,  and  dulci¬ 
mer,”  or  for  the  precious  stones  un¬ 
derlying  the  walls  of  the  heavenly 
city  ?  How  easy  to  fall  into  the 
error  of  the  translator  in  China  who 
took  the  wrong  word  for  the  palm 
tree,  and  represented  the  multitudes 
who  went  out  to  meet  our  Lord  on 
Mount  Olivet  as  casting  in  the*  path¬ 
way  before  him  branches  of  a  thorn 
tree  ?  or  of  the  novice  in  Africa 
whose  version  of  the  parable  of  the 
sower  represented  carniverous  birds 
as  coming  down  to  devour  the  seeds 
that  fell  by  the  wayside  1  Or  that 
more  serious  error  of  the  Telugu 
translator  who  selected  a  phrase 
which  made  the  atonement  appear 
to  be  something  designed  to  placate 
an  evil  deity  ? 

On  questions  like  these  light  is  to  be 
found  in  the  recorded  experience  of 
those  who  have  struggled  with  these 
intricate  problems  and  have  left  rec¬ 
ords  of  their  methods  and  results. 

III.  A  part  of  the  gift  which  the 
Nineteenth  Century  passes  on  to  the 


11 


Twentieth  as  a  help  to  the  evangel¬ 
ization  of  the  world,  is  a  greatly 
improved  apparatus  for  work,  accu¬ 
mulated  during  the  past  one  hundred 
years.  We  are  not  informed  what 
critical  equipment  Cary  had  when 
he  started  as  a  pioneer  to  supply  the 
people  of  India  with  the  Scriptures 
in  multitudinous  forms  of  speech, 
but  his  library  must  have  been  most 
restricted  and  meager.  He  went  to 
a  field  which,  as  Canon  Edmonds 
describes  it,  was  then  as  unexplored 
as  an  Indian  jungle,  while  now 
“  the  subject  of  Indian  languages  is 
mapped  out  with  all  the  accuracy  of 
an  ordnance  survey.”*  The  fruits 
of  modern  scholarship,  so  largely 
devoted  to  linguistic  study,  are  avail¬ 
able  for  the  translator  and  inter¬ 
preter  of  the  Bible.  Studies  of  He¬ 
brew  and  Greek  and  cognate  tongues 
throw  light  on  the  meaning  of  every 
page.  Ancient  versions  help  to  elu¬ 
cidate  the  meaning  of  the  writers. 
Archaeological  investigations,  coins, 
manuscripts,  inscriptions,  papyri, 
lend  their  aid.  Researches  in  Ori¬ 
ental  lands  clear  up  doubtful  pas¬ 
sages.  Every  new  translation  is  a 
commentary  embodying  the  conclu¬ 
sions  of  a  scholar.  Then  the  estab- 

*  Report  of  the  Missionary  Conference,  1888,  Vol. 
II.  295. 


12 


lishment  of  museums  and  libraries, 
the  modern  processes  of  reproduction 
by  photography  and  electrotyping, 
by  lithography  and  mimeographing, 
the  wide  diffusion  of  discoveries,  and 
the  free,  uninterrupted  communica¬ 
tion  between  all  civilized  nations, 
make  the  translation  of  any  book  of 
the  Bible  a  very  different  thing  from 
what  it  was  when  Judson  toiled 
over  his  Burmese  version,  or  Bing¬ 
ham  and  his  associates  were  trans¬ 
lating  the  Scriptures  into  Hawaiian. 
Such  things  may  not  make  the  work 
of  the  translator  easy,  but  they  cer¬ 
tainly  aid  his  great  purpose  to  be 
exact  and  faithful. 

IV.  The  Christianity  of  the  Nine¬ 
teenth  Century  transmits  also  its 
profound  and  abiding  conviction 
that  the  Bible  has  come  to  the  earth 
to  stay,  not  an  obsolete  book,  or  one 
of  waning  power  and  merely  historic 
interest,  but  a  mighty  force  which 
Cod  has  appointed  for  the  use  of  his 
Church  in  the  discharge  of  its  duty 
to  the  world. 

The  conservatism  of  Christian 
thought,  so  profoundly  impressive, 
is  perhaps  in  no  respect  more 
marked  than  in  the  history  of  Bible 
versions.  Generation  after  genera¬ 
tion  clings  to  the  old  beliefs,  formu¬ 
las,  phrases,  and  words.  Revision, 


13 


substitution,  change,  encounter  op¬ 
position  and  meet  with  scant  favor. 
It  is  Luther’s  Bible  that,  with  slight 
revision,  holds  its  own  among  the 
Germans  after  nearly  four  hundred 
years.  The  Spanish  version  of  Cas- 
siodoro  de  Reina,  printed  in  1569, 
with  some  modifications  introduced 
by  Valera  in  1602,  though  confess¬ 
edly  antiquated  and  often  obscure, 
is  still  held  in  high  honor  as  against 
modern  competitors.  The  author¬ 
ized  English  version,  prepared  un¬ 
der  the  auspices  of  King  James  in 
1611,  remains  “the  version  in  com¬ 
mon  use  ”  among  English- speaking- 
people  all  around  the  world.  In¬ 
dividual  scholars  without  number 
have  shown  how  it  might  be  bet¬ 
tered  by  more  exact  renderings,  by 
the  removal  of  archaisms,  by  con¬ 
formity  to  a  better  text,  by  obvious 
and  unquestioned  improvements. 
Companies  of  devout  and  gifted 
scholars  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlan¬ 
tic,  after  devoting  years  to  a  work 
of  critical  revision,  challenge  the 
world  to  accept  their  changes,  but 
the  conservatism  of  the  age  is  shown 
by  the  unwillingness  of  the  people 
to  have  the  new  supplant  the  old. 
It  is  not  the  Bible  Societies  that  have 
stood  in  the  way,  but  the  profound 
attachment  of  the  people  to  the 


14 


identical  phrases  which  they  have 
heard  from  infancy  and  which  are 
wrought  into  the  literature  of  three 
centuries.  The  dominant  influence 
in  the  United  States  forty  years  ago 
would  not  allow  the  American  Bible 
Society  to  change  the  headings  of 
King  James’  version  or  alter  the 
spelling  of  a  word.  It  was  even 
constrained  by  public  opinion  to  re¬ 
cede  from  some  slight  improvements 
which  it  had  introduced,  and  to  put 
back  Noe  for  Noah  in  Matt.  24.  37, 
Canaanite  for  Cananite  in  Matt. 
10.  4,  and  church  for  bride  in  the 
margin  of  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and 
to  remove  a  comma  after  the  word 
slain  in  Bev.  13.  8.  It  is  perhaps 
still  more  remarkable  that  one  im¬ 
portant  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church  retains  in  its  liturgy  a  ver¬ 
sion  of  the  Psalter  which  was  made 
long  before  the  publication  of  the 
authorized  version  and  has  been  in 
daily  use  since  1549.  Such  attach¬ 
ment  to  a  form  of  sound  words  illus¬ 
trates  a  deep-seated  reverence  for 
the  book  itself,  and  is  proof  of  a  con¬ 
viction  that  an  inheritance  so  valua¬ 
ble  should  not  only  be  transmitted 
to  our  posterity,  but  imparted  as 
speedily  as  may  be  to  all  the  world.* 

*  “  If  for  Wales.”  said  the  Rev.  John  Hughes,  one 
of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society, 
“  why  not  for  the  world  ?” 


15 


V.  The  Nineteenth  Century  as¬ 
sures  the  Twentieth  of  its  firm  con- 
viction  that  the  Bible  is  to  be  more 
than  ever  a  factor  in  the  world’s  life 
and  a  help  to  the  evangelization  of 
the  nations,  the  overthrow  of  false 
religions  and  the  building  up  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  century 
the  attempt  was  made  by  some  to 
show  that  “the  circulation  of  the 
Bible  without  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  would  do  harm.”  Others 
expressed  the  fear  that  it  might  en¬ 
gender  fanaticism.  Missionaries  in 
China  objected  to  sending  the  book 
among  the  heathen  as  simply  6 ‘  cast¬ 
ing  pearls  before  swine.”  Such  fears 
find  little  expression  at  this  day  and 
the  trend  is  the  other  way.  Now 
education  is  the  law  of  procedure 
in  Protestant  mission  work.  The 
school  is  fundamental.  Reading  is 
everywhere  encouraged.  The  print¬ 
ing-press  is  a  means  of  evangeliza¬ 
tion.  The  Bible  often  goes  in  ad¬ 
vance  of  living  teachers,  and  men 
and  women,  assembling  to  read  and 
hear  it,  wait  and  pray  for  the  com¬ 
ing  of  some  minister  of  the  gospel 
to  explain  the  way  more  perfectly. 
In  some  lands  even  the  Roman 
Catholics  seem  to  be  yielding  to  the 
same  conviction,  and  are  giving  the 


16 


Scriptures  at  least  to  their  adher¬ 
ents,  printing  the  Bible  in  Arabic, 
and  parts  of  the  New  Testament  for 
the  Chinese,  the  Japanese,  and  the 
Gilbert  Islanders.* 

The  limits  allotted  to  this  paper 
do  not  allow  the  writer  to  point  out 
the  large  results  traceable  to  the  cir¬ 
culation  of  God’s  word  among  the 
nations,  and  it  belongs  to  the  mis¬ 
sionaries,  rather,  to  show  what  obli¬ 
gations  they  owe  to  the  Scriptures 
as  an  agency  accompanying  all  their 
work  and  essential  to  its  success. 
But  one  can  hardly  question  the 
statement  that  in  Christian  lands 
the  Scriptures  are  to-day  more  care¬ 
fully  studied  than  ever  before  in  the 
world’s  history.  The  multiplication 
of  “  teachers’  helps,”  the  flood  of 
commentaries,  minute  and  extended, 
on  separate  books  and  on  the  entire 
Bible,  and  above  all  the  circulation 
of  the  book  itself,  not  by  Bible  So¬ 
cieties  alone,  but  by  many  publish¬ 
ers  and  book-sellers,  with  added 
attractions  of  maps  and  pictures  and 
devices  for  arresting  attention  by 
re-arrangements  of  parts  and  para¬ 
graphs,  by  new  translations  and  by 
rainbow  hues  to  illustrate  modern 
theories  of  the  origin  of  the  sacred 

*  See  Bible  Society  Record ,  March,  1895 ;  September, 
1896 :  March,  1897. 


17 


writings — such  things  carry  convic¬ 
tion  that  it  is  believed  to  be  and 
that  it  is  indeed  the  book  of  the 
people. 

VI.  Still  another  conviction  which 
is  to  cross  the  border  line  between 
the  centuries  is  that  the  contents  of 
the  book  are  more  valuable  than  the 
vessel  which  holds  them,  and  that 
the  book  itself  transcends  in  im¬ 
portance  and  value  the  various  spec¬ 
ulations  of  men  about  them,  the 
interpretations  which  different  ages 
have  given  them  and  all  reconstruc¬ 
tion  of  the  truth  in  theological  sys¬ 
tems  and  formulas  and  creeds.  Cur¬ 
rent  interpretations  of  many  texts 
differ  greatly  from  those  promul¬ 
gated  in  the  times  of  our  fathers. 
From  precisely  the  same  passages 
of  Scripture  men  deduce  views  re¬ 
specting  truth  and  duty  in  direct 
antagonism  to  others  no  less  learned 
and  devout  than  they.  The  Bible 
Society  platform  allows  the  largest 
liberty  of  individual  speculation  and 
inquiry,  but  provides  that  its  ad¬ 
herents  agree  in  their  estimate  of  its 
immeasurable  importance  to  man¬ 
kind,  and  the  need  of  encouraging 
its  wider  circulation  in  intelligible 
forms  of  speech.  When  Ezra  would 
have  the  people  comprehend  the  law 
which  was  uttered  in  their  hearing,  he 


18 


read  in  the  book  distinctly  and  gave 
the  sense  and  caused  them  to  under¬ 
stand  the  meaning.  Had  it  pleased 
God  to  preserve  until  this  day  those 
tables  of  stone  on  which  the  com¬ 
mandments  had  been  written  by  his 
finger,  it  would  be  of  little  use  to 
reproduce  them  by  photography  or 
plaster  molds  as  a  sufficient  means 
for  making  known  to  men  the  duties 
which  he  requires  of  them.  The 
categorical  imperative  has  no  less 
power  than  when  Moses  came  down 
from  the  mount,  but  if  it  is  to  re¬ 
strain  from  profanity  and  adultery 
and  murder,  it  needs  to  be  enunci¬ 
ated  in  the  mother  tongue.  The 
angelic  song  which  one  night  floated 
down  from  the  skies  above  Bethle¬ 
hem  could  never  be  appreciated  as 
a  gospel  message  of  peace  and  good¬ 
will  in  Honolulu  or  Natal  or  Muscat 
until  it  was  reproduced  with  the 
liquid  Hawaiian  sounds,  or  the  Zulu 
click,  or  the  Arabic  guttural — for 
every  man  in  the  tongue  in  which 
he  was  born.  To  help  that  consum¬ 
mation  has  been  part  of  the  aim  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century — to  dissem¬ 
inate  the  written  word  in  living 
human  tongues,  and  the  duty  has 
not  been  done  away  by  the  fact  that 
the  Bible  itself  has  been  subjected  to 
the  criticism  of  students  and  eccle- 


19 


siastics.  Men’s  changing  opinions 
about  the  contents  and  structure  of 
the  Bible  and  its  various  readings  do 
not  hinder  or  arrest  its  power.  The 
ointment  is  more  precious  than  the 
alabaster  vase,  and  if  the  vase  were 
dashed  to  fragments,  the  perfume 
and  aroma  would  remain  to  pervade 
and  bless  the  world. 

VII.  Once  more  there  is  a  profound 
conviction  that  the  law  and  the  gos¬ 
pel  thus  intrusted  to  the  men  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century,  and  to  those 
of  the  Twentieth  as  well,  is  seed-like 
in  character,  and  will  assuredly  de¬ 
velop  in  stem  and  foliage  and  flower 
and  fruit  in  human  thought  and 
experience  as  men  ponder  the  truth 
and  are  led  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
appreciate  and  understand  it.  No 
less  now  than  of  old  is  it  part  of  the 
whole  duty  of  man  to  “  search  what 
or  what  manner  of  time  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  did  point  nnto  when  it 
testified  beforehand  of  the  sufferings 
of  Christ  and  the  glory  that  should 
follow  them,”*  and  the  Nineteenth 
Century  testifies  that  such  searching 
is  essential  for  the  development  of 
the  truth  and  the  harmonizing  of 
the  written  word  with  the  knowl¬ 
edge  gained  by  the  study  of  nature 
and  providence  as  revealed  by  sci- 


*  I.  Peter  1 . 11.  R.  V. 


20 


ence  with  its  irresistible  sway  over 
the  human  intellect.  Upon  the  de¬ 
parture  of  the  pilgrims  from  Leyden 
John  Robinson  laid  on  them  his 
solemn  and  memorable  injunction  : 
“The  Lord  has  more  truth  yet  to 
break  forth  from  his  holy  word.  .  .  . 
I  beseech  you,  remember  it,  it  is  an 
article  of  your  church  covenant  that 
you  be  ready  to  receive  whatever 
truth  shall  be  made  known  unto  you 
from  the  written  word  of  God.”* 
Bishop  Butler  argued  that  we  are 
not  rashly  to  suppose  that  we  have 
arrived  at  the  true  meaning  of  the 
entire  Bible,  “  for,”  he  said,  “  it  is  not 
at  all  incredible  that  a  book  which 
has  been  so  long  in  the  possession 
of  mankind  should  contain  many 
%  truths  as  yet  undiscovered ;  for  all 
the  same  phenomena  and  the  same 
faculties  of  investigation  from  which 
such  great  discoveries  in  natural 
knowledge  have  been  made  in  the 
present  and  last  age,  were  equally 
in  the  possession  of  mankind  several 
thousand  years  before.”!  Coperni¬ 
cus  promulgated  a  theory  of  the 
heavens  so  far  astray  and  subver¬ 
sive  of  current  belief  that  in  1616 
it  was  condemned  by  a  papal  bull. 

*  Felt,  Eccles.  History,  Vol.  I.  38. 

+  Quoted  by  Henry  Rogers  in  “Reason  and  Faith,” 
page  413.  See  also,  R.  N.  Cust,  “Normal  Addresses,” 
page  167. 


21 


“Who  will  venture,”  said  Calov, 
fifty  years  later,  “to  place  the  au¬ 
thority  of  Copernicus  above  that  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  ?  ”  *  But  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  enlighten 
and  sway  mankind  is  no  less  than 
it  was  when  King  James’  translators 
set  about  their  task,  every  one  of 
whom,  no  doubt,  believed  that  the 
earth  was  the  center  of  the  solar 
system  and  could  not  be  moved. 
The  Bible  has  no  less  potency  to-day 
than  at  the  beginning  of  the  Nine¬ 
teenth  Century,  when  all  Christen¬ 
dom  accepted  the  idea  that  Moses 
was  to  be  interpreted  as  teaching 
that  the  world  was  made  in  six  days 
of  twenty-four  hours  each.  And 
even  to-day,  while  devout  students 
of  sacred  history  are  announcing 
conclusions  at  variance  with  what 
has  been  held  before  and  inherited 
from  the  fathers,  and  throwing 
doubt  upon  the  genuineness  and 
authenticity  of  accepted  texts,  they 
give  us  to  understand  that  such 
parts  of  the  several  books  as  they 
deem  most  nearly  identical  with  the 
original  seem  to  them  more  than 
ever  instinct  with  life  and  power. 

Indeed  it  is  one  of  the  marvels  of 
this  wonderful  compilation  of  writ¬ 
ings  that  men  may  get  so  much  from 


*  Herzog,  Vol.  I.  525. 


22 


the  storehouse  of  truth,  who  do  not 
grasp  or  understand  the  whole,  or 
who  misapply  its  non-essential  parts. 
A  man  may  misunderstand  the  Scrip¬ 
ture,  which  says  that  44  without  con¬ 
troversy  ”  the  mystery  of  godliness 
is  great,  and  yet  may  believe  that 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  the  Re¬ 
deemer  of  the  world.  He  may  find 
a  true  44  gospel  for  a  world  of  sin,” 
and  get  relief  himself  from  the  bur¬ 
den  of  guilt,  and  yet  be  far  astray  in 
his  theory  as  to  the  way  in  which 
sin  came  into  the  world.  He  may 
misconstrue  the  word  spoken  to 
Noah,  44  My  Spirit  shall  not  always 
strive  with  man,”  and  yet  be  truly 
regenerate. 

The  function  of  the  Bible  Societies 
is  not  to  construct  systems  or  build 
up  churches.  As  Mr.  Oust  says  : 
4  4  They  are  brickmakers,  rather  than 
masons,  but  a  good  brick  is  a  very 
important  thing.”  It  is  their  work 
to  give  the  Scriptures  to  men,  in  the 
most  intelligible  and  available  form, 
for  their  enlightenment  and  salva¬ 
tion.  And  not  until  the  earth  shall 
cease  to  yield  its  harvest  for  the 
support  of  human  life  will  the  Book 
cease  to  be  available  for  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  spiritual  life  and  for  the  at¬ 
tainment  of  men’s  highest  welfare. 

VIII.  Once  more,  and  finally,  the 


23 


Nineteenth  Century  lays  upon  the 
Twentieth  the  injunction  to  carry 
on  to  its  completion  the  work  which 
now  has  only  been  begun. 

Not  to  speak  of  numerous  lan¬ 
guages  and  dialects  which  thus  far 
have  never  been  enriched  with  any 
part  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  three 
hundred  unfinished  versions  of  these 
sacred  writings  are  to  be  re-exam¬ 
ined,  and  if  found  worthy  are  to  be 
supplemented  by  that  which  in  each 
case  is  lacking.  Not  one  Gospel 
alone,  but  the  four  Gospels ;  not  the 
four  Gospels  alone,  but  the  Epistles 
as  well ;  not  the  New  ^Testament 
alone,  but  the  things  written  in  the 
law  of  Moses  and  in  the  prophets 
and  the  Psalms,  are  the  property  of 
the  nations.  These  are  a  part  of  the 
Scripture,  and  all  Scripture  is  profit¬ 
able  to  mankind.  When  our  Lord 
Jesus  came  back  from  Paradise  to 
Jerusalem  and  from  the  companion¬ 
ship  of  the  dead  to  the  dear  fellow¬ 
ship  of  his  chosen  disciples,  he 
brought  them  no  new  disclosures 
from  beyond  the  bourn,  but  their 
hearts  burned  within  them  as  he 
unfolded  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  and 
told  them  how  ancient  prophecies 
were  fulfilled  in  his  death  and  resur¬ 
rection.  What  Moses  and  Elijah 
may  have  had  to  say  to  him  in 


24 


Hades  was  of  small  moment,  but  it 
was  important  for  them  to  under¬ 
stand  the  connection  between  the 
things  which  had  been  told  to  the 
fathers  through  the  prophets  and 
those  told  in  later  days  by  the  Son  ; 
and  from  this  we  learn  that  the 
church  of  the  future,  the  church  for 
which  this  Conference  works  and 
prays,  must  be  “  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  apostles  and 
prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being 
the  chief  corner-stone,  in  whom  all 
the  building  fitly  framed  together 
groweth  unto  a  holy  temple  in  the 
Lord.”  Men  may  be  saved  who 
know  no  more  of  Christ  and  his 
salvation  than  did  the  malefactor 
on  the  cross,  but  the  Bible  makes 
provision  for  a  larger  upbuild¬ 
ing  in  knowledge  and  wisdom. 
The  Bible  work  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  is  but  a  beginning,  and  it 
would  be  disastrous  to  suspend  it 
at  the  point  now  reached.  On  the 
contrary,  let  the  Twentieth  Century 
carry  it  on  to  perfection  “that  the 
man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thor¬ 
oughly  furnished  unto  all  good 
works.” 


Copies  of  this  paper  may  he  obtained  on  application 
to  the  American  Bible  Society,  New  York. 


I 


